Prestwick by David Hough

Publication date: 10 April 2013Format: Paperback and Kindle ebook(Please note: you don't need a Kindle reader to read this book - you can download it from Amazon onto your computer/ipad/iphone)

A freak mid-air collision cripples a trans-Atlantic 747 and a US Air Force jet. Against the clock and overwhelming odds, the planes’ crews – or what’s left of them – struggle to save the on-board survivors. Meanwhile an obsessed narcotics detective tries to pin drug smuggling and murder on two suspects on board the crippled 747.As the weather deteriorates, most Scottish airports are closed, leaving Prestwick the only airport available for a safe landing. However, Prestwick has its own emergency to deal with, something that overshadows all other problems. Landing permission is refused and more than four hundred people are condemned to an almost certain death over icy, blizzard-swept seas. Can things get any worse? They can – and they do...

What the readers say

"David Hough has produced a real page turner with this tense and suspenseful story. A roller-coaster of a ride from beginning to end."

"David Hough has conjured up An Absolute Cracker. I could not put this down! I am actually from Prestwick and I could visualise the areas where the book was centred around. He builds and builds up to surprising situation in Atlantic House with an incredible outcome."

"As the story unfolded I found myself immersed in both aircraft and rooting for safe outcomes. I was flying by the seat of my pants."

"5 stars without hesitation. I also believe this would make a Great Disaster Film."

"This is a real page-turner of a novel. Reads like a 70s disaster movie as the stakes get higher and higher, and you wonder how it can possibly all be resolved. But it IS resolved, with a very satisfying ending."

David's thoughts on Prestwick

How would you describe this book? This is an aviation thriller with all the bells and whistles ringing and blowing together. It rattles along at a fast pace because that’s how such books should run. The key characters have only one way to go: a struggle to survive. They mustn’t stop for breath, just keep tackling each problem until they win through.

Where did the idea for this book come from? I heard about a real incident in which two aircraft got too close together. Nothing happened and no one was hurt. But, I wondered, suppose they had collided. Suppose they were both badly damaged and the pilots were struggling to reach safety at Prestwick. And suppose they were both refused landing permission. Now I had a story.

Did the story end up where you thought it would when you started writing? Yes, this is another book in which everything was planned from the start. In fact, I think it would be extremely difficult to write this sort of story without a clear plan at the beginning.

Which character in this book did you enjoy writing the most? Dougie Nyle is the 747 co-pilot who has to take control when his captain is badly injured. I wrote him as a placid young man who was shown disdain by his father because he isn’t the 'fighter pilot' type. He is the sort of person who tackles things carefully and methodically and, in the circumstances in which he finds himself, that’s just what is needed.

Cloudberry is an imprint of Luscious Books LtdRegistered in England and Wales No. 8337846